Village of Ognyanovo – tobacco or spa?

published on 1/30/12 1:02 PM

Photo: www.bg.wikipedia.org

People from the Rhodope municipality of Garmen are about to replace their traditional occupation – growing of tobacco with an easier and more profitable one – tourism. The reason lies in the increased interest towards local villages and the beautiful nature surrounding those, along with the architecture preserved. Thus for several years only dozens of successful family hotels have been built up in the village of Ognyanovo, famous with its healing mineral water. Most of these buildings belong to former tobacco entrepreneurs, who turned into hotel owners.

This is the case of Mr. Ventseslav Sharkov – ex-farmer, who now owns a comfortable family hotel in the village of Ognyanovo. The irregular payment of subsidies and the low purchase prices are the reason for this change of priorities. “We had some 5 – 6 daa of tobacco till 2006 and we had an output of up to 1 ton annually. However, it turned out that to make a living out of this was an extremely difficult task,” Mr. Sharkov says, remembering the next risky move that he and his wife made. They took a bank credit, in order to build a hotel, just like other people from the village did. Thus 4 years ago the Sharkovs welcomed their first guests and their business has been successful ever since. “We have customers, despite the crisis and manage to pay our credit installments,” the entrepreneur claims. He admits that his success is due mainly to the preserved nature of the Rhodope Mountain and also to… the mineral water that attracts tourists.

“The village of Ognyanovo is a spa resort over the whole year, since there are many nice mineral springs that heal a series of diseases,” Ventseslav Sharkov says. “At the same time the cooled mineral water can be drunk and it affects positively the gastrointestinal tract. The mild Aegean climate at the foot of the Rhodope Mountain is also good for people’s health.”

About 85 percent of the local population made a living out of tobacco growing until some 10 years ago, while barely 4 percent were engaged in business activities. Nowadays about 40 percent from those, who live in Ognyanovo work in the sphere of tourism. Locals do not regret about tobacco and admit that it is really nicer and above all – more profitable, to welcome and entertain guests than to be a tobacco slave, whose production is purchased for cents at the end. Those people realized a long time ago that their true wealth is hidden in the mineral water that brings so many customers to their hotels. “We welcome many guests from the Greek northern region of Drama, along with Bulgarian ones,” Ventseslav is proud to say.

“People say that the crisis is in Greece, but at the same time Greeks visit us and think it is cheaper. Sometimes they even come for lunch only. I have a tavern at the hotel with a spa too. Now we will install a jacuzzi with mineral water. As far as our cuisine is concerned, we offer everything that we produce and they appreciate local Rhodope meals. Customers may taste chopped sausages and meatballs, pork ribs that we produce… Now people in our village want to become farmers again, but this time they want to produce things that support their hotel business and not tobacco. However, bigger subsidies are expected for the development of such activities. Those entrepreneurs, who want to have greeneries that will offer bio products to our guests not only in summer, should be supported by the state.”

English version: Zhivko Stanchev

По публикацията работи: Veneta Nikolova

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Village of Ognyanovo – tobacco or spa?

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